Modus Operandi
by Mobilisinmobili
Summary: Do you consent to the D.E.M.A Project? Y-yes. I consent. A conspiracy is brewing in the halls of MI6. A new organization hellbent on.. Even MI6 doesn't know. But shit hits the fan when hands are forced and bodies begin to pile up. And in the middle of it all looms a secret that may just send MI6 over the edge into chaos. But it doesn't exist. Or does it?
1. Chapter 1

(A semi - Jason Bourne/Winter Soldier/other movie esque au)

"Do you consent to the D.E.M.A Project?"

"I-where a-"

"Do you consent to the D.E.M.A Project?"

Hesitated silence.

There was a flash, silent but bright. All other sound blurred together becoming indestinguishable.

A slow blink and then opened eyes. The room came back into focus.

"Do you consent to the D.E.M.A Project?"

"Ye-yes. I consent".

Fatigue took over suddenly settling into the very bone. His thoughts began to slur and vital signs slowed down.

"Very good. Now, look at me".

Dialted brown eyes gazed hazily back.

"What is your name?"

"I-I don't know..."

"Where are you?"

"In Russia.. somewhere".

A brief nod of approval.

"Bring the tub".

Hazy brown eyes snapped open and become alertful and distressed. He began backing away from the man in the white coat, slowly begining to hyperventilate.

"Now now, come back here. You were doing so well. We just need to do one more test" the man in the white lab coat cooed.

"No. no no no nonoononononon." Panic began overwhelming his senses and then it all went quiet. He couldn't feel anything for a moment and then every inch of him began to burn. He felt his lungs constricting, trying desperatly to take in air thatt wasn't there. It was as though there were knives everywhere. The water was a sub zero temperature, it always was. Always. "Stupid!" he berated himself. How could he not have noticed. Four extra lab coats quietly placed the tub behind him so that he would trip himself in. He struggled in vain to break out. He knew by now what would happen. He remembered, albeit only bits and pieces. But he did know one thing, the next few hours were going to be hell.


	2. Chapter 2

It was currently 01:00 hours and Alex Rider was dead tired. He had just been 'released' from the hospital today and it was already the third straight hour he'd been driving "Hey, you want me to drive the rest of the way?" Tom Harris asked from the passenger seat. Alex looked over at him with arched brows, "No one else is allowed to drive this car except for Ben" Alex said flatly. "Mate, we've been on a straight stretch of road for the past hour, I'm sure I can handle it. "Yeah, no" Alex replied seriously eyes returning to the road ahead. "Is it cause I didn't get my license? Alex, come on! You look like you haven't slept in a week, and besides, you've probably have done more illegal things than that!" Tom replied incredulously. Alex turned his head sideways to face his friend. "Smithers made this car and if anyone whose finger print he didn't program into the car touch the steering wheel the car blows up" Alex replied in a deadpan manner. Tom looked torn between believing Alex and telling him to cut the serious bullshit. "I'm being serious you know" Alex stated, eyes back on the road. With practiced hands he pushed a button on the dashboard and a small screen popped out. "Whoa.." Tom replied poking at the screen. "Agent Rider Number *23-17-46-11, deadlock command activate" Alex clenched the steering wheel harder. Just then the doors self locked and the windows went into blind mode and the lights in the car's exterior shut down. "What are you d-?" Tom turned to his friend slightly worried. "Shhh, there's been a car tailing us for the past few minutes. "I don't see a car..." Tom replied confused looked around the windows of the car to spot the elusive follower. Then from a ways behind the high beams of a car turned on and their follower was illuminated. Alex sped up and without warning pushed the car into a U turn. "Alex, you're going straight for the other car!" Tom cried, he had worried that his friend's super spy mind had accidentally stop functioning like one. Alex ignored Tom in favor of falling a few feet away of their follower's tail, to anyone outside in the dark their car was nearly invisible. The car in front of them picked up speed and so did they. "They must have thought we drove away". Alex said completely focused on the situation. "Tom, speed dial #2 on your phone for me" "Alex, that was a non existent number you gave me, it goes to the phone operator". Alex continued on as though he hadn't heard what his friend had said. "After that, press 23-17-46-11 and put it on speaker phone". Tom did as he was told and was rewarded with a voice at the other end. "Agent Rider, I would like you to stop tailing your tail, they're SAS, the entourage we talked about." Jones stated exasperatedly. "And I've told you Alex, it's a safety precaution, you've only been back for a month, and you aren't even supposed to be out of the hospital if I recall correctly" Jones sounded bemused. Alex heaved a obnoxious sigh. "Well trained enough to go into deep cover for a year but not old enough to make a four hour drive... I feel the trust Jones" Alex snarked. "You know the rules Alex" Jones answered back coolly and with that the connection was cut. Alex deactivated the deadlock and sped up to take his original place in front of his tail. Alex fiddled with another button on the side of the steering wheel. "I've always wanted to try this" he said as he pushed down on the side button and adjusted the radio fm. There was a bunch of static before voices were audible. "Fucking brat" a voice bit out. "Come on Tiger, you're just pissed because he's MI6". Then a bunch of grumbling. Tom looked at him disbelievingly, "did you ju-" Alex shushed him. Then he spoke, " G unit, come in, this is Agent Rider number 23-17-46-11. Nothing personal, I just wasn't expecting you all to be this far out" Alex looked displeased, but his voice didn't give it away. There was swearing and a whole lot of fumbling before someone responded. "This is Shark, I'm captain of G Unit. How did you get on to this frequency?! This is top secret military, no one knows this exists!" Tom raised his brow. Alex responded, "Shark, Agent Rider again, I'm MI6 remember? No one knows I exist either" Alex said with a chuckle. There was silence before Shark responded, "Agent Rider, we're about an hour or so out from camp, if you can, let's make the rest of the way a smooth trip, no disappearing acts or shit. Got it?" Shark growled. "Wilco Shark, over and out." The rest of the trip had indeed been smooth and they reached the camp in shorter time than they thought. As he pulled up to the gate a soldier came to the window for a security check. "What is your purpose here?" The soldier asked. "I'm here on behalf of MI6" Alex answered curtly. "Name?" As Alex was about to respond he hit a blank. He simply stared off above the soldier's head, confusion flitting across his face momentarily. Tom leaned in and answered, "Agent Rider and his plus one" he stated shooting a worried glance towards Alex. The doors to the car behind them opened and out stepped shark. He marched over to the soldier and demanded to know what was wrong. "Agent Rider, please step out of the vehicle" the soldier ordered. Alex snapped back to attention. "I don't think that'll be necessary" He replied. "Agent Rider I won't repeat myself, please step out of the vehicle". By now the entire G unit had arrived on the outside of the car. Alex went to unbuckle his seat belt. "Do as he says Tom" Alex told his friend. Tom followed. "Your hands where I can see them" The soldier ordered. Alex and Tom both vacated the car. "G Unit take these two to the holding cell" Bear and Hawk complied grasping each boy by the arm tightly. They were marched past the Sergeant's office and towards the back of the camp where the holding cells were located. They were locked in cells across from each other and left with Tiger as a guard. "Alex mate, you feeling alright?" Tom asked worriedly. "Yeah... Yeah Tom, I'm fine. I don't know what happened in the car.. It's like someone just wiped my train of thought" Alex replied as the pressed the palms of his hands on his eyes. "Jones is gonna have a field day with this... Damn it!" "s'aright, as long as we don't stay locked up like this for too long, you know I don't like cells Alex!" Tom joked trying to lighten the mood. "Yeah, Tom, sorry bout that". And then silence.

* For those of you who haven't caught it yet, these the coordinates from Star Trek Into Darkness :)

*Sorry for the filler ish chapter, but it just had to be there! The next few chapters will have chunks of what happened in chapter 1, I promise!

Please read and review everyone! Reviews are like cupcakes, wonderful and yummy! :3


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter will contain a few graphic scenes, so just be forewarned! Onward then! :)

* * *

Sometime between being thrown into the holding cell and the two hour wait until someone had come to bring him to the sergeant's office Alex had drifted. He wasn't exactly in a state of sleep, but he wasn't completely all there either. He was back in Russia in the crisp white tiled room.

* * *

It was so bright. So. Very. Bright. His eyes felt like they were on fire. And then somewhere from above he felt a weight settle on his shoulders. And then he couldn't breath.

"This can't be right..." Alex thought. "My eyes are closed." And with that the brightness disappeared in an instant leaving pitch black darkness.

"Oh no. no nonononon, come back!" By now Alex had learned that the light was good. Light meant that he could see. He could fend off against the monster that poked and prodded at him. He was surprised once more as he felt bubbles rush around his head. And then he couldn't breath. He felt the familiar sensation of his lungs painfully constricting against the sudden chill of the sub zero temperature of the water. His muscles began cramping painfully as his heart thudded faster and faster until he was positive it was trying to escape out of his body. He knew by now that they would eventually come and get him out. Sometimes though, they weren't fast enough and they had to drag his limp unconscious body out. He knew that struggling would only waste his oxygen and that if he stayed still enough he could maybe fein unconsciousness.

But something was off about the situation. He could see it in the looks he saw in the white lab coated scientists' eyes.

And then everything went to hell.

Red blossomed in front of his eyes as though someone had taken blood and was dropping it in little by little. The water tinted pink. In his surprise he let out the breath he had been holding and accidentally inhaled.

"That's not right." His mind thought sluggishly, very nearly shutting off from the oxygen deprivation. His mind recoiled as he tasted the metallic tang of iron. That was the last thought he had before his eyes fluttered and his head fell back. He saw one last view of the outside of the cube he was trapped in before he was jolted out of his near unconsciousness. His eyes widened and a shiver of absolute terror ran down his spine.

.Drip...

He was nearly floating on his back, held in mid suspension in the middle of the cube of water he was trapped in. From this vantage point he saw what had caused the water to turn metallic tasting. He was trying very hard to not hyperventilate.

above him he saw the dangling form of Viktor.

Drip. Drip. Drip...

Or what was left of Viktor anyways.

The corpse was dangling from a noose strung up above Alex's cube. The blood, Alex realized belatedly was dripping out of the sockets of where his eyes were supposed to be. His head was tilted at an impossible angle, which Alex realized as the corpse continued to spin around lazily, was due the cut on Viktor's neck.

Well... It wasn't a cut per say, more of a hack. Someone had attempted to behead Viktor from behind but had quit after a few hacks. His head was dangling limply from his neck, eye sockets still weeping tears into Alex's cube. That was the last thing he saw before his vision began to tunnel and breathing slowed. But he could still himself think.

"Interesting..." He thought. He was stuck in his own head, in a vacuum space.

Suddenly he felt the bright light come back. But he was no longer in the same place.

"Maybe they've moved me..." Alex said out loud to himself. He realized that he had begun walking. It made no difference though. In front of him, behind him, towards all of the sides, everything was just bright white. There was no floor, no walls, and no ceiling. It was just a limitless expanse of bright white. He took a second to absorb this information before he began laughing. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stop, it just kept bleeding out.

"Like Viktor..." A voice sounded behind him. Or was it in front? He couldn't be sure. It was gone before he knew it.

"Isn't this interesting?" The voice sounded again. It was gone before Alex could process leaving him wondering if he had really had heard something at all.

He kept walking.

"You know, you can't have sound in a vacuum space." The voice whispered. And with that the light had disappeared leaving only a heavy nothingness around him.

"It's okay... shhh.." He told himself stifling the rising fear he felt. "It's okay, just breath."

The sound of his breathing helped him calm his racing heart.

"Oh no. You can't have oxygen either." He slowly felt the oxygen fade and his lungs began to constrict in protest. Tendrils of fear snaked up his brain.

"Did you know, that the last thing to shut down is you brain?"

Alex felt himself fading.

"Goodbye."

And then he was falling.

down

down

down...

And then he jerked and opened his eyes.

* * *

"Der. Ag-t... Rid...Ride...RIDER!"

Alex blinked slowly to regain his eye's focus.

"I don't think you're okay mate..." He heard Tom stating from somewhere above him.

"I'm fine." Alex replied curtly back. He belatedly realized that something or someone was holding him down by his shoulder. He tilted his head back to see none other than Shark peering back to him, apprehension clear in his eyes.

"Agent Rider, are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine." Alex regained enough control of himself to slide his neutral mask back on.

"The Sergeant wants to talk to you mate." Tom told Alex, concern still hinted in his voice. "He's called Jones." Tom added, almost as an after thought.

"Shit." Alex hissed as he rubbed his face tiredly with his hands.

He was so dead.

* * *

Hello again everyone! I hope you've liked this chapter. Things are really going to pick up speed in the next few chapters, so stayed tuned! Also, please Read and review! Reviews are wonderful, I want to know your opinions and so such! So please pleaseeeeee :3 review!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everyone!~ I hope you've all liked the story so far. So, I went back yesterday and reread all of it and realized that it is kind of confusing as to what's happening. To all of you feeling that way too, worry not! I'll try to make this chapter an explanation chapter of a sorts. Don't hesitate to PM if you have any other questions! I love questions, and comment! I love those too. So, without further rambling on my part, here's chapter 4! :)

* * *

The tension in the room jumped up a peg as Jones opened her mouth to speak, eyes boring into Alex's head as though she believed that if she willed hard enough she could extract the information she wanted.

"Would you like to tell me what happened back there, Agent Rider?" Everyone could hear the definite emphasis on the word Agent. Just as well, everyone could feel the nonchalance rolling off of him in waves.

They, The sergeant, Rider, Harris, Jones and G unit were all sitting around the circular table of the debriefing room that also doubled as the second interrogation room.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Jones...Maybe you should elaborate." Alex sat opposite of Jones twiddling around with the handcuffs that connected him the his chair. If anyone else had been listening they would have believed the innocence and curiosity in his voice. But those present weren't 'anyone else'.

"You began hallucinating, muttering something about a 'Viktor' and then you assaulted four SAS officers. Alex, this is not looking good for you."

Alex's demeanor changed instantly. Gone was the nonchalant innocence he had been portraying. The mask was off and now everyone could see the fatigue. It was as though he had deflated. The bags under his eyes became more prominent and his usually serious dark eyes became darker and more unnerving.

"It doesn't matter Jones. It won't happen again. Scouts honor." Sarcasm dripped off of the last part as he tried in vain to salvage the situation.

"Ma'am" the sergeant spoke up. "With all due respect, I don't think it would be a good idea for Agent Rider to be here during his time of recuperation. I don't need my men to get hurt during training because Agent Rider isn't in his right frame of mind."

"No no, Sergeant, that is completely understandable. Alex, do you have anything to say about this?"

Alex shrugged. "Nothing I say will really matter will it Jones." He bit out.

Jones gazed curiously at him for a few moments. Alex knew what she was thinking.

"No fucking way Jones. I am not going to Whitehall. It's not happening. I'll just go home or something. You know, the place where I haven't been to for the last year." Alex was getting tired of being bounced around everywhere. He just wanted to go home and go to sleep for the next year or so.

Jones tilted her head ever so slightly a small smile playing on her lips.

"How about we come to a compromise?" Everyone was all ears.

"Sergeant, I've found your new instructor on terrorism."

Alex nearly fell out of his chair while the sergeant's eye's widened in surprise.

Picking himself up off of the ground Alex glared at her. "I am not teaching the SAS Jones. I don't even know how to teach. I was the kid pissing of his teachers at school!"

"He's right you know" Tom piped up beside him.

Jones stood and made to leave. "It's settled then." She nodded towards the sergeant. "You can call me if something goes wrong."

And without another word she left the room shutting the door with an air of finality.

Alex turned to stare at the sergeant. With a deadpan look he said, "I want a raise." and sunk back into his chair letting the inevitably bad news sink in.

* * *

Hello everyone~ I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I won't lie, I did rush it a bit, didn't have time to check over it too much either. Just an fyi, I probably won't be updating until next week or so, but I won't be leaving the story, so no worries! :)

As always, please R&R!


	5. Chapter 5

08:00 hours.

"I don't care how you feel Rider. You're an instructor. You have to be introduced." The sergeant pinched the bridge of his nose and willed the inevitable headache to stay away. Off to the side Tom had taken to spinning around in his chair in a very 'teenage' way that set the strict rule abiding sergeant on edge.

"Can't you just tell them that they have a new instructor? I mean, they're going to see me tomorrow, might as well wait." Alex replied petulantly. He had no intention of being dragged out to be introduced to a room full of SAS.

"Not all of them are SAS yet Rider. Some of them are still trainees. And I've already called all of them to meet in the mess hall. We're already running late, so get off your arse.

Alex looked mutinous.

"I'll call Whitehall."

Alex eyes narrowed into an intense glare.

Tension and silence...

He broke it off with a sigh.

"Fine, fine... Lets get this over with." And with that he slowly got off his chair wincing.

"You too Harris. Come on."

Tom's eyes widened.

"I'm totally okay here..." He stopped mid spin.

"You're coming too or I'm cuffing you to Rider. Either way you're both going."

"Come on mate, just do what he says."

* * *

"Gentlemen, this is Agent Rider and his plus one Tom Harris. As of now for an indefinite amount of time Agent Rider will fill in as the new instructor on Terrorism. Is that clear?"

From the confused incredulous looks on their faces it was not clear.

"He looks a bit young to be SAS doesn't he sarge?" A voice called out from the back.

Nods of agreement.

Alex rolled his eyes. The sergeant glared at them and the whispering stopped.

"I don't care what he looks like, he's the new instructor. It's not my decision." He snapped.

"So if you have a problem, you can just pack your bags and leave got it?"

More nods of approval.

"Got it?" He said again with more steel in his voice.

"Yes sir!" They chorused.

The Sergeant gave one last irritated look before he marched out leaving Alex and Tom alone in the front of the mess.

Alex looked helplessly at his retreating form.

"Alright, nice to meet you lot. Goodbye."

And with that he grabbed Tom and legged it out.

* * *

"Here's what the previous instructor left behind." The Sergeant grunted as he dropped the box of files and binder unceremoniously on Alex's bed.

It was an ominous sight.

"What is this?" Alex asked cautiously looking at the Sergeant with apprehension.

"Course work of course." He replied back flatley. "You don't even have to make your own lessons, just read over what he had and teach..."

...

Alex's head lolled back as he groaned.

Tom laughed at the sight of his friend.

"At least you don't have to grade papers and shit, I heard that's a right pain in the ass."

Alex glared.

"What time is class?"

"06:00 hours."

Alex rubbed his face tiredly with his hands.

"Just as a forewarning, whatever happens to happen during class isn't my fault. I don't need Jones relocating me again. Deal?"

The Sergeant gazed down at him quizzically.

"I won't kill anyone and I promise, I will not blow anything up. At all. Nothing. It's all safe. Jones always gives me a hard time about that... not my fault..." He mumbled towards the end.

The Sergeant grunted in agreement.

"Whatever you want to do Rider, just make sure they learn something yeah?"

"Will do."

* * *

Sorry for the wait :) Hope you like

R&R please


	6. Chapter 6

Hello all!

I apologize for the very late update :P I was meaning to, but then I hit a block and so yes... sorry :3

Anywho, I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

"You're late." The Sergeant barked, sounding entirely unamused.

"You didn't specify a time." Alex retorted as he made his way to the front of the room, laptop in one hand and folders in another. It was evident that he was tired. Dark bags under his eyes, his face taut and slightly pale.

The recruits shifted uncomfortably in their seats. No one ever went one-on-one with the Sergeant like that. They would have been binned immediately.

Alex didn't particularly seem to care. If anything he seemed rather bemused by the greeting, a scary sort of nonchalance rolling off of him.

"I thought you MI6 types were supposed to know everything."

The Sergeant challenged back, his tone neutral bordering on friendly ribbing.

"Yes well MI6 has never made me teach as an instructor before."

He opened up his laptop and began the startup.

The Sergeant had been casually leaning against the podium before Alex had arrived and had moved off standing back up. He arched his brow.

"Bullshit." He smirked.

"Whitehall doesn't count. They were all incompetent imbeciles who just wanted to look cool. Most of them failed my tests. It was more like babysitting..."

Alex sighed irritatedly at the memory.

The recruits were now looking awkwardly around and talking in hushed voices. They all seemed surprised. With good reason. They had never seen the Sergeant this laid back with anyone.

"Where's Harris?" The Sergeant asked changing the topic.

"I've sent him to grab something. He'll be here in a few minutes." Alex replied absentmindedly, face aglow from the light from his computer screen.

* * *

A few more minutes passed in relative quiet with Alex typing away before the door slammed open.

"Took you long enough." he muttered without looking up from his screen. The rest of the recruits had jumped in their seats and turned to see who the intruder was.

"You (pant) fucking (pant) liar...(huff)."

Tom was bent double trying to regain his breathing.

"I told you it was going to difficult."

"Yeah, but you also said that it wouldn't take too long and that it would be completely safe."

Alex sighed and looked up from his computer to focus his attention on Tom.

"You're not bleeding are you?"

"No..."

He refocused his attention back to his computer.

"Well then, no harm done. I don't see what the problem is."

"The box almost sliced off my fingers!"

"Did you follow all of my instructions?"

"Yeah!"

Alex looked up again, brow arched.

"Okay, I might have skipped a step.."

"Which one?"

"The one with the music..."

"Tom! I told you all of the steps. ALL of them!"

Tom gave a sheepish grimace.

"But really? Vivaldi?"

"Presto is in perfect synchronization with the box's internal system. It restarts when you play it."

Tom rolled his eyes as he made his way up towards the front, muttering about crazy MI6 types.

"Didn't know if you wanted this too. It was in the box." Tom chucked the object towards Alex's general area. Without breaking focus on his screen Alex reached out and caught it.

"That creeps people out Alex, you know that right?" Tom said conversationally as he perched himself on the podium.

"Hmmm.."

"Rider, you're already ten minutes late, get to it!" The Sergeant barked.

"Calm it down. I'm almost done an- Ah ha!"

A triumphant smile flitted across his face as he stood up and motioned for Tom to hand him the object. He plugged the USB into the computer and pressed the button for the projector and suddenly pictures and documents flooded the wall behind him.

"Sorry for the delay. I had to get through the inscription."

The recruits settled down and focused the full attention on Alex. Tom had grabbed the spinny chair that Alex had vacated and was spinning idly while fiddling with Alex's phone.

* * *

"The files and pictures you are going to see today are strictly government secrets. You are all bound by the OSA, so needless to say, nothing you see today will leave this room."

Alex didn't wait for confirmation.

"Just nod yeah? Don't call me sir. I hate that. Call me Rider."

The recruits nodded.

"This is everything and anything I managed to save before they burned the rest. Not that that'll help them anymore with the sorry state they're in."

Alex smirked as he clicked on the presentation.

"Oh, you actually made a presentation. So dedicated Mr. Rider!" Tom mocked from his chair.

The Sergeant chuckled.

"Jones has him on a tight leash. Apparently something to do with Japan or something.." The Sergeant had taken a seat in the back and shot him a curious look.

Alex rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know he was a part of the Yakuza? And I didn't even hit anything major, he was just being a pansy."

"You were being chased by an entire branch of the Yakuza in that area..." Tom interjected amusedly.

"That wasn't my fault either!" Alex looked slightly sheepish. "Okay, maybe a little bit..."

"Come to think of it, why were you in Japan in the first place?" Tom asked

"Moving on..." Alex bypassed his question.

"Awww.. But Alex!" He stopped abruptly by the look Alex shot him

"Anyways. Yes, Jones made me make a presentation, so you all better listen."

The recruits nodded.

"We're going to start off with SCORPIA, just because it's what I know the most about." He began without preamble.

A hush settled over the room.

Alex plowed on.

"SCORPIA stands for sabotage, corruption, and assassination. They were behind the fucked up vaccination scandal a few years back. They mostly deal with smaller arms shipments and assassination now. Not as tough as they used to be."

He clicked for the next slide. A picture of Malagosto popped up. "This is where they train the recruits. It gets fucking hot... Poor recruits..." There was a look of legitimate sympathy followed by a grimace.

"Most of their recruits are training in overarching skills meaning that, most of them are at least competent in most all of the forms of what SCORPIA stands for. Other interdisciplinary courses are taught too. Poisons, weapons, hand to hand, lying. You name it. The ones that don't pass are disposed of. Too much information to allow them to just walk out. Normally they are given as an assignment for the ones who have passed."

Alex had said all of this with a look of nonchalance, very scripted.

He clicked for the next slide. Photos of recruits training in the water, on land and in the classroom popped up.

"They're a pretty interesting branch with a pretty interesting skill set to teach."

Next.

"Even though they fall low on the danger level, they are still pretty dangerous. If you see a SCORPIA agent you'll need to take extreme precaution. Don't let your guard down."

A hand went up and Alex nodded.

"Didn't you say that they weren't as dangerous anymore?"

"I said to take precaution, not evacuate."

The tension in the air grew.

"They have fallen from what they had been, but they are still extremely dangerous." He replied solemnly

Another question.

"How do you know if the agent is SCORPIA and not some other organization?"

Tom stopped his spinning to shoot Alex a victorious smug smirk.

Alex in turn huffed irritatedly and rolled his eyes plucking out a five pound note.

If possible, Tom's smirk grew. Gloating. He was definitely gloating...

"Oh shut up." Alex hissed and looked back towards the front. The recruits looked confused.

Alex took on last irritated breath before he stripped off his long sleeve shirt. A collective hiss went through the group, whispers breaking out like wild fire. Even the Sergeant drew a sharp breath.

"Figures..." He thought. His front wasn't as bad as the back, but his time in captivity had taken a toll on his body. Bruises and scars littered his torso and he looked rather thin.

"SCORPIA brands all of the recruits who manage to pass."

He pointed towards his lower abdomen where a medium sized mark stood.

"They have their own secret code. This is what you would see on a recruit who passed the weapons training for assassination."

There were hushed whispers.

He pointed to his collar bone where another bigger mark stood.

"They brand you with this if you pass all off the courses. The placement isn't always the same. That depends on your mentor. Mine was nice enough to put it somewhere decent." Alex smiled ruefully as he said the word nice.

Silence...

"Moving on." He said putting his shirt back on.

Alex clicked on the next slide. The history of SCORPIA.

* * *

They ended up finishing a few minutes early.

"How are you MI6 if you were SCORPIA?" A brave recruit voiced out. The rest froze and turned their attention to Alex.

Alex was back to typing away at his computer.

"It was a sting and I played a double agent." Nonchalance colored his words.

"Who was your mentor?"

He looked up.

"Classified."

That effectively put a stop to the conversation and the recruits went back to chatting with each other.

"Alex." Tom called out conversationally.

Alex shot Tom a sideways look.

"Yeah?"

"You have like ten missed calls..."

The effect was instantaneous, startling the recruits.

Alex jumped towards Tom with astonishing speed and snatched the phone out of Tom's hands.

"You tell me this now?!" He sounded legitimately worried, if not a little scared.

"It was on silent!" Tom raised both hands in a sign of peace as he defended himself.

"Fuck..." Alex muttered as he scrolled through his call log.

He calmed himself down enough to not sound as terrified and hit the call button.

One ring was all it took.

"What are you playing at?" a voice hissed on the other end.

All of the composure he had thought had flew out the window and he was back to looking terrified.

The recruits all looked more than curious.

"I - I was in a lecture.. lecturing..." Alex finished off lamely.

Tom raised a brow. He had never heard Alex stutter on purpose before.

"I know I should have kept it with me... I just-" The voice on the other end rose, most likely yelling. The yelling tapered off as Alex tried to rebut. After a good five minutes of failing at rebutting, a look of absolute terror flitted across his face and he very nearly dropped his phone. But like any good agent, he managed to neutralize his expression. He rubbed his face tiredly and dialed another number.

Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

"Jones." He sounded bemused. "What the fuck?!" he waited, a look of impatience coming over his features.

"Yes, but you said yes. Why would you even say yes to something like that?!"

Silence...

"Obviously it'll be a problem!" Alex burst out, shattering the silence and startling everyone with his sudden surge of irritation.

Tom promptly stopped spinning and stared at Alex wearily but with curiosity.

"You know I'm in no condition."

Silence...

He bit out a rough laugh that wasn't quite all there.

"Don't forget what happened last time..." He replied dryly.

...

"And you promise you won't pull a Blunt this time around?"

He sounded less frantic and angry.

He listened for a few moments before turning to look around at the recruits.

"Yeah... I can't make any promises knowing him."

And he hung up.

Alex closed his eyes and took what was supposed to be a calming breath.

"Alex?" Tom asked.

"Yeah?" Alex replied wearily.

"You okay mate?" He sounded genuinely worried.

"You know, I'll have to get back to you on that." Alex responded in an eerily calm voice as he pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, helplessly hoping that maybe if he pressed hard enough everything would disappear.

A defense mechanism... His mentor wouldn't be happy about that...

When he finally opened his eyes again he took a deep breath.

"Sergeant, we'll be having company..."

"Dear god help us all..." Alex thought.

This would be interesting...

Please R&R :)


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is dedicated to: Bob Story Builder

Did I say Tuesday? I totally meant Friday... I am so super duper sorry! o_o

This update took far longer than it should have taken and it was partially because I had school work to do, but to be completely honest, I kind of forgot... SO don't hesitate to shoot me a PM :) It would most likely help me remember!

Anywho, ONWARDS!

* * *

Tom nearly fell off his bed in shock as the door to the room slammed open. He sat up quickly snapping his attention to the door.

"Tom Harris" it was a recruit standing at the door looking rather alarmed.

He couldn't find his voice to answer.

"The sergeant requests your presence immediately. It's an emergency"

It didn't really register with Tom, it was very early in the morning after all, and Alex had kept him up with paper work!

"Al" He rasped

Silence

"Alex!"

He got off the bed and climbed the ladder to the top bunk. One glance and he was looking questioningly at the recruit.

"He's not there..."

The recruit, if possible looked more alarmed at this.

"Harris, the sergeant said he would explain everything when you get there."

Tom gazed at him, considering something before hopping off, grabbing his phone, and gesturing for the recruit to lead the way.

* * *

Tom it seemed, was not the only one the Sergeant was expecting.

The hall was jam packed with recruits. The Sergeant stood to the side looking extremely bemused, and with good reason.

Earlier that day the teams from the American Marine Corps had arrived as expected as a part of a good will exercise between the two countries. They also sat in a group towards the front, talking amongst themselves. From what Tom could pick out of the quiet conversations, no one really knew what was happening, and it was bothering them all.

The Sergeant gestured for him to come towards the front next to him. He picked his way awkwardly through the tight space feeling extremely self conscious as his bright blue hoodie and sweat pants made him stand out obviously against the uniforms of the soldiers.

When he made his way next to the sergeant he felt the tension rise.

"What's this about then?" he asked in a whisper.

"You'll find out soon" the sergeant replied moving towards the front of the room clearing his throat to get everyones' attention.

"What you are about to hear is strictly classified. Nothing will leave this room. Am I clear?" The Sergeant barked.

A chorus of "Yes sir's" filled the room.

He nodded and continued on.

"We are currently in the midst of a code red situation."

Everyone listened closely with rapt attention.

Tom stood off to the side, arms crossed, considerably less groggy.

"As of 04:30 hours, our instructor on terrorism Agent Rider, MI6, has been considered MIA. He was expected at a meeting at 04:00 hours with HQ, but he never showed up. Our surveillance lost track of him around 23:00 hours.

Tom spoke up, "he came to the room around 23:30 and just did paperwork until around the time I decided to go to sleep around 01:00 and he did too. I didn't hear him leave."

The Sergeant mulled over Tom's words.

"Then Agent Rider's location from 01:00 - 04:00 is what we need to know."

There were hushed whispers flitting around the room

"Also" The Sergeant barked regaining control.

"Around 04:40 we received intel that something was blocking all of our connections; phone lines, internet, and radio frequencies. We found that there were two messages left on our radio line."

He moved to click the play button on the recorder.

It began with an ominous cracking and then suddenly a voice.

Male. Sounded foreign, Russian most likely.

"It's been far too long Alexi. I am glad to see that you've recovered nicely. I've missed you quite a bit you know. It's not fun playing games all by yourself, and the others, they aren't quite like you. So I thought, why not? You are an extremely hard man to track down you know. But now that we're together, we'll start a new game!"

The hall was dead silent. No one dared to move. The recording went on.

"It'll be you, me, and everyone else in this camp. The more the merrier! And your friend Tom, I've decided that he'll be the special game piece. I'm assuming you remember how to play, if not you're just going to have to test it out again."

Crackling.

"Time is ticking Alexi."

And with that there was radio silence.

The tension in the room rose as the whispers broke out.

The Sergeant brought them together once again, face grave.

"Ten minutes after we received another message." He clicked the button once more.

There was silence at first before the sound of crackling could be heard. The sound of heavy breathing and foliage underfoot became louder and louder.

"This is Rider Alpha 85-6-021 requesting backup."

The crunching underfoot stopped abruptly and only the sound of breathing could be heard before a whistling and a small thud sounded.

The crunching sounded up again before gunshots sounded, breaking the quiet.

A chuckle could be heard in the background.

And then there was silence. Even the sound of breathing was muffled.

Everyone waited with bated breath before flinching at the sudden loud burst of sound.

They could hear a spray of bullets and a muffled curse, leaves were crunching underfoot.

Another burst of chuckled ran through before Alex attempted again.

"This is Rider Alpha 85-6-021 requesting immediate back up."

And then everyone froze.

"Rider Alpha 85-6-021 your request has been denied. Blunt protocol in effect, over."

Alex swore.

"Jones stop with the games. At least get everyone else out. I'll deal with the rest. This is a legitimate hostile threat!"

The radio crackled.

"Agent Rider, we've made it clea-"

The transmission was cut off by a sharp screech.

The recruits kept their eyes glued to the radio. The ominous feeling swallowed the room.

And then radio silence took over.

Whispers flittered through the room.

There was immediate silence when everyone heard the radio crackle to life again.

"Jones, do you hear me? This is Rider Alp-"

"Rider Alpha 35-6-021, what part of 'no' do you not comprehend? Mrs. Jones has made it perfectly clear that the answer is no. So be a good sport and focus. I told you we're playing a game, so you should really get to it before people really start getting hurt. Remember the last game Alexi? You don't want that to happen do you? If I remember correctly it took you three days to scrub off all of the blood from the walls..."

The radio crackled.

"Anyways, good luck Alexi."

* * *

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